SATOYAMA EXPERIENCE

About Us

SATOYAMA EXPERIENCE is a website to connect traditional culture in countryside, which Japanese people are proud of, and to provide experiences of activities on the field.

We have many programs in which you can experience the culture and history inherited in Hida and Takayama. We show daily lives of local people to guests from all over the world.

“Satoyama” is an environment in which nature and people coexist for a long time on the border of “sato” where people live and natural “yama” which means a mountain. It consists of communities, forests taken care of by people, farm lands and so on. Japanese people lived in satoyama for a long time, became a part of the ecosystem and realized what is now called a sustainable life style.

We cultivated rice fields and, using postharvest rice straws, made things necessary for our life such as straw raincoats, straw sandals and thatched roofs. Also, after used as tools, they were given to livestock as feeds or returned to the earth as fertilizer. As it shows, the cycle of resources naturally existed. Within each community, its society and culture were being formed in association with that way of living.

It can be said that satoyama was an important environment because it was a habitat and growing environment for particular organisms and provided natural resources such as food and lumber and beautiful landscapes.

However, such areas rapidly decreased because of postwar changes of Japanese life style and industrial structure. Many woods are desolated, people who know the satoyama culture are aging and the succession of the culture is in danger.

On the other hand, it is often heard that a clue to pursue a much-needed sustainable society is in satoyama. In an area which is blessed with essential affluence, lots of inherited wisdom of life exists. Now it is time to rethink about current satoyama to create our future society.

Essential way of living can be experienced in satoyama.
Please enjoy the special time you can have only here through the tours connecting daily lives of local people with your travel.

1 We connect you with a hand-picked and qualified travel expert who can match your trip requirements. The advantage of working directly through a travel expert is that you get the best and unfiltered advice from the very beginning.

2 The travel expert will help you with creating and customising a trip for you. If you have any questions or concerns relating to the trip, the travel expert will also be able to help you with those.

3 When you feel that your trip is exactly per your wish, you'll be able to book the entire trip here on Bookmundi.

The Advantages of Bookmundi

Selected Local Travel Experts
All our local travel experts have been chosen based on rigorous selection criteria. In fact, we reject 98 out of 100 local travel agencies, and thereby giving you access to the top 1-2% local travel experts.

Secure Online Payment and Financial Guarantee
Each and every trip is required to go through Bookmundi's secure payment platform, powered by Stripe and supported by SSL. All payments are therefore carried out in secure manners. We are furthermore member of the Danish Travel Fund which gives you a 100% financial guarantee for any money you pay on Bookmundi, even if we went bankrupt (which we we will not!).

Trip Replacement or 100% Reimbursement
Bookmundi has hand-picked your local travel expert. Our role, as your trusted third party, is therefore to make sure that your entire experience runs as seamless and secure as possible. We guarantee to you that in the unlikely event where a local travel expert cancels your trip after your deposit or full payment has been made, we commit to replacing these services with another equally qualified agency so that your trip can go ahead as planned, or failing to replace it, we will give you a 100% reimbursement.

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Before responding to {{getFirstName(activeuser)}}’s customised trip request for {{plannerCountries}} we recommend that you carefully read these guidelines as they will help you with approaching the customer correctly and convert the enquiry into a trip booking.

1 We connect you with a hand-picked and qualified travel expert who can match your trip requirements. The advantage of working directly through a travel expert is that you get the best and unfiltered advice from the very beginning.

2 The travel expert will help you with creating and customising a trip for you. If you have any questions or concerns relating to the trip, the travel expert will also be able to help you with those.

3 When you feel that your trip is exactly per your wish, you'll be able to book the entire trip here on Bookmundi.

The Advantages of Bookmundi

Selected Local Travel Experts
All our local travel experts have been chosen based on rigorous selection criteria. In fact, we reject 98 out of 100 local travel agencies, and thereby giving you access to the top 1-2% local travel experts.

Secure Online Payment and Financial Guarantee
Each and every trip is required to go through Bookmundi's secure payment platform, powered by Stripe and supported by SSL. All payments are therefore carried out in secure manners. We are furthermore member of the Danish Travel Fund which gives you a 100% financial guarantee for any money you pay on Bookmundi, even if we went bankrupt (which we we will not!).

Trip Replacement or 100% Reimbursement
Bookmundi has hand-picked your local travel expert. Our role, as your trusted third party, is therefore to make sure that your entire experience runs as seamless and secure as possible. We guarantee to you that in the unlikely event where a local travel expert cancels your trip after your deposit or full payment has been made, we commit to replacing these services with another equally qualified agency so that your trip can go ahead as planned, or failing to replace it, we will give you a 100% reimbursement.